What Teams Get A Bye In The Nfl Playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Wild Card weekend is upon us, and that means that we know what teams get a bye in the NFL playoffs.

What is the NFL playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion. Six teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a tie-breaking procedure exists in the case of equal records. The tournament culminates in the Super Bowl, the league’s championship game.

How do teams qualify for the playoffs?

In order to make the playoffs, a team must have a winning record and must have either won their division or have one of the best records among the conference’s wild card teams. The four division winners in each conference are seeded one through four based on their record, with the top seed receiving a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The next four seeds are the wild card teams, who play each other in the first round.

Win their division

To qualify for the playoffs, a team must win their division. The four division winners in each conference (NFC and AFC) will automatically qualify for the playoffs. The two teams with the best records in each conference (NFC and AFC), regardless of division, will also qualify for the playoffs. These are known as the wild card teams.

Win a wild card berth

In the NFL, 11 of the 12 teams that make the playoffs each year do so by winning their division. The 12th team is what’s known as a “wild card”--a non-division-winner with one of the better records in the conference. There are four wild card teams in the NFL playoffs, two in each conference. The NFL playoff format is not symmetrical, however. In the AFC, there are four division winners and two wild cards. In the NFC, there are four division winners and two wild cards.

The first round of the playoffs is what’s known as the “wild card round.” In this round, the third seed hosts the sixth seed and the fourth seed hosts the fifth seed. The winners of these games advance to the divisional round, where they play the top two seeds in their respective conferences.

The NFL playoff system is designed so that eventually, only the two best teams in each conference face off against each other in what’s known as the conference championship game. The winner of each conference championship game goes on to play in the Super Bowl.

What teams get a bye in the playoffs?

The NFL playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. As of 2020, there are four teams who receive a bye in the playoffs: the New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Kansas City Chiefs.

The division winner with the best record

In the NFL, the team that wins each division is assured of a place in the playoffs. The two teams with the best record in each conference also make the playoffs, but they don’t automatically qualify for the divisional round. Instead, they get a bye through Wild Card Weekend and don’t play until the divisional round.

The division winner with the second-best record

The division winner with the second-best record will earn a bye in the Wild Card round. In order to determine which team gets the bye, the following tiebreakers will be used, in order:

1. Better won-lost-tied percentage in games against common opponents, minimum of four.
2. Strength of victory.
3. Strength of schedule.
4. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
5. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
6. Best net points in common games.
7. Best net points in all games.
8. Best net touchdowns in all games

How does seeding work in the playoffs?

In the NFL playoffs, the top seed from each conference receives a bye week. The conference’s next three highest-seeded teams host the sixth, seventh, and eighth seeds in the first round of the playoffs Saturday and Sunday. The division winner with the best record in each conference hosts the wild-card game. This system ensures that the two best teams in each conference get at least one playoff game at home.

Who plays whom in the playoffs?

In the NFL, the playoffs are single-elimination and seeded according to regular season records. The top six seeds earn a bye in the first round while the remaining four play in the Wild Card round. The Divisional round features the four remaining teams playing the top two seeds from the opposite conference.

The divisional round

In the divisional round, the four division winners from each conference play the lowest-seeded wild card team from their conference. The two remaining wild card teams play each other. The winners of those games then advance to the conference championships.

The conference championships

After the two wild-card games, the winners advance to the divisional round to play the top two seeds in each conference, who had byes through the wild-card round. The divisional round is scheduled for Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12. The conference championships are scheduled for Sunday, January 19.

The Super Bowl

The most important game in the NFL season is the Super Bowl. This is the championship game where the two best teams in the league face off to determine who is the best. The Super Bowl is always played on a Sunday in February and is one of the most watched television events in the United States.